You Make Me Want To Stay
by Myra109
Summary: It was a normal summer day until seven year old Jack fell out of the tree him and Jenny were climbing. Jack fell four stories and hit the ground head first, and as he lays there, dying, he's faced with a difficult decision. Should he let go... or should he stay? AU, part of the Jack/Jenny collection.


_This is a spin off of It Takes No Fear._

 _This takes place a few months before Jack and Jenny become a couple._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing._**

 ** _WARNINGS: NONE. THERE REALLY ISN'T EVEN ANY INCEST IN THIS STORY (maybe some implied incest, but even that's a bit out there)_**

* * *

"I'm bored!" Jack complained.

"I'm bored-er!" Jenny challenged.

"I'm bored-est!"

"When I was your age, my mother didn't let me complain about being bored," their mother said. "There's always something to do."

"Like what?" Jack questioned.

"Read a book," their mother suggested.

The kids made disgusted faces.

Their mother shrugged. "I wouldn't have read a book either. Go to the park."

"That's so far!" Jenny whined.

"Play with your friends," their mother offered.

"Jessica's on vacation in Florida," Jenny said.

"Johnny's visiting his grandparents," Jack continued.

"Andrea is visiting her sister for the week," said Jenny.

"Carlos is at his dad's for the weekend," Jack told their mother.

"I get it!" their mother said. "Geesh, doesn't anybody stay home during the summer anymore?"

Jack shook his head. "Only us, apparently."

"Play a board game!" their mother said.

Jenny frowned. "What's a… board game?"

Their mother sighed. "It's official. Next time you want to play a game, you're playing a board game and not a game on my phone. Hmm… go climb that big tree in our backyard."

The siblings glanced at each other before shrugging.

"Why not?" Jack said before they stood and ran outside.

"Finally, some peace and quiet," their mother muttered.

* * *

"It's been so long since we did this!" Jenny laughed as she planted her foot on the next branch and pulled herself up.

"I know!" Jack agreed, struggling to reach the next branch.

Jenny laughed and reached out a hand, which Jack gratefully took, and the older sister pulled her younger brother onto the branch just below her.

"How long has it been anyway?" Jack asked.

Jenny hummed, trying to remember. "We haven't done this since I was around five. You were only three, so Dad helped us climb the tree, but we weren't allowed to go very high because he didn't want us to fall."

"But now we're older, so we can go higher!" Jack shouted as they climbed beyond their usual stopping point.

"This is awesome!" Jenny shouted as they reached the four story mark.

Jack started to climb higher, but Jenny stopped him.

"I think we're high enough, Jack. The higher branches aren't very strong," she said.

Jack nodded and sat down on the branch while Jenny leaned against the main trunk of the tree, sitting across from her brother.

"Remind me why we stopped climbing this tree?" Jack questioned, glancing around at the great view of the neighborhood and the park and the pond near their house.

"I don't know," Jenny answered, and the siblings barely had time to laugh before they screamed as a loud crack sounded, and the branch sagged lower as it threatened to break off from the tree.

"Jenny!" Jack shouted as Jenny wrapped her arms around him. "Jenny, I'm scared."

Another crack sounded as the branch lowered even more; it was hanging on by a twig at this point.

Jenny stood and grabbed hold of the branch above her, swinging herself onto it before reaching out a desperate hand towards her little brother.

"Jack, give me your hand!" she yelled.

Jack raised his hand and grasped her's just as the branch broke underneath him. The huge tree limb tumbled to the ground, and Jack was left suspended, Jenny's grip the only thing keeping him from falling.

Adrenaline was pumping through Jenny's veins, but even with the extra strength the adrenaline gave her, she was only a little girl. Her hand was already slipping out of Jack's.

"MOMMY!" Jenny wailed.

"Jenny, let go, or we're both going to fall!" Jack cried as Jenny's foot slipped, and she was nearly sent somersaulting off of the branch.

"I'm not going to let go!" Jenny replied.

Jack knew it was the only way. If Jenny didn't let go, they would both fall to the unforgiving ground below. He loved Jenny so much, more than she knew, and he couldn't let her die because she refused to let him go.

Jack swallowed a sob. This was going to hurt.

"I love you, Jenny," he whimpered. "More than you'll ever know."

Jenny felt tears stream down her cheeks. "I love you, too, Jack. _So much_."

Jack stared into Jenny's eyes for another moment before he let go of her hand and fell.

Jenny screeched his name. She was so distraught, she nearly fell out of the tree herself as her brother collided with the ground, skull first.

She waited. She prayed he would stand up and smile up at her, giving her a thumbs up to tell her he was okay.

He didn't. Jack laid still. Too still.

"MOMMY!" Jenny shouted, and the back door flew open as her parents sprinted across the yard to where Jack lay, motionless. Her mother withdrew her phone from her purse to call 911, and as much as Jenny wanted to know if Jack was okay, her fear kept her rooted to the spot. She was so high up… she didn't want to fall, especially since it meant she might fall on Jack and make his condition worse.

Jenny's father was not a young man. He was almost in his forties and a very unhealthy forty at that. When he walked into the room, you could hear his knees pop with every step. That's why Jenny was so surprised when her father scrambled up the tree, pulling himself up at top speed as though he climbed this tree everyday.

"Daddy!" Jenny sobbed as he reached her and picked her up, holding the nine year old against his side as though she was a toddler.

"I've got you, Jenny," he whispered. "Hang onto me, okay?"

Jenny didn't dare look down as her father carried her down the tree until they rested on the ground. Jenny leaped out of her father's arms and knelt by her brother's side, staring at his bloody and bruised face.

Jenny rested her head on Jack's chest, listening to the familiar thump, thump of his heart beat.

"Don't leave me!" she begged, and if Jack heard her somewhere deep in the sea of consciousness, he didn't respond.

The scream of sirens appeared, and paramedics rushed across the yard with a gurney, and Jenny's mother pulled her away as the paramedics placed Jack on the gurney.

"One of you can ride," a paramedic said as they placed Jack in the ambulance.

The parents glanced at their daughter, who looked more worried than the mother and father even did, and that was saying something.

The mother lifted Jenny into the ambulance and looked at her.

"Jenny, you go. We'll meet you at the hospital."

Jenny nodded as the doors shut, and she sat beside Jack, gripping his hand like a lifeline, wondering if she could somehow pull him back from the clutches of death.

The beeping on the heart monitor sped up.

"He's crashing," the paramedic said.

The paramedic grabbed two paddles and pressed them against Jack's chest.

"One, two, three, clear!"

Jack jumped.

The line of the heart monitor remained flat.

"One, two, three, clear!"

Jack jumped again.

The line remained flat.

"Please, Jack," Jenny sobbed. "Please. I love you. Don't leave me. Please!"

"One, two, three, clear!"

For a brief moment, nothing happened, and Jenny's grip on Jack's hand tightened just as tiny mountains appeared on the screen.

Jenny sobbed in relief as she pressed her ear to Jack's chest, listening to his heart beat.

It was a relief to hear that sound.

* * *

Jack was dying.

When he hit the ground, he found himself standing in the middle of a colorful world, more beautiful than any scenery he'd ever seen, and he was staring at a bright light. It was a brighter than the sun, but it didn't hurt to look at it.

He started walking towards it…

"Please, Jack!"

That was Jenny's voice. Jack turned, searching for her.

"Please. I love you. Don't leave me. Please!"

Jack turned back to the light, his life flashing before his eyes. The last image he saw was Jenny's tear streaked face when his hand slipped out of hers, the terror and desperation and heart break rattling within her voice as she screeched his name.

He couldn't leave her. Not now. Not ever.

Jack knew that heaven would be beautiful and amazing and that it should be perfect, but Jack knew that nothing was truly perfect unless Jenny was by his side.

The light brightened, as though God understood, and Jack turned away from the light.

* * *

A soft gasp was ripped from Jack's mouth as he awakened.

A kiss was pressed to Jack's forehead, and his eyes landed on Jenny, who was sitting at his bed side.

"Hey," Jenny murmured.

"Hey," Jack replied. "What happened after I fell?"

"You were dying," Jenny answered. "They shocked your heart back into beating again, and we arrived at the hospital. You have a severe concussion, three broken ribs, and a broken arm. You'll need to stay for a week or so for observation because of the concussion."

Jack smiled at her, and Jenny felt tears roll down her cheeks.

"I thought you were going to leave me," she cried.

Jack shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere, Jenny. You make me want to stay."

* * *

 _Not my best Jack and Jenny story, but I thought it was pretty good. I love feedback (but keep it kind or constructive criticism because any flames will be ignored and reported if necessary), so please tell me what you thought in the form of a review or a PM!_

 _Thanks for reading!_


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